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Four got slapped with a franchise tag, including Orakpo, and two with the seldom-used transition tag.

Here's the difference, simply and quickly.

First, the franchise tags. All four were all of the non-exclusive variety, meaning starting March 11 Orakpo, New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy and New York Jets placekicker Nick Folk are free to negotiate a long-term deal with any other team.

They won't get a sniff, however, because the compensation owed by the signing team to a tagged player's previous club is two first-round draft picks. Not even Graham is worth that.

By the complicated annual formula used to figure out tag salaries at each position group, Orakpo will earn $11.455 million in 2014; Graham, $7.053 million (presuming he loses his expected appeal to be paid as a wide receiver, $12.132 million); Hardy, $13.116 million; and Folk, $3.556 million.

The two key differences: the guaranteed one-year salary is a bit lower at each position, and any team that might sign Mack or Worilds owes his previous team nothing.

Let's look at Mack's case.

The Browns are now on the hook to pay him $10.039 million, the transition tag rate for offensive linemen in 2014. Had the club slapped him with a non-exclusive franchise tag, it would have had no concern that another team would sign him, but at the cost of paying him $1.615 million more. That's because any O-lineman slapped with a non-exclusive franchise tag this year is due $11.654 million.

Similarly, with Worilds the Steelers are essentially saying they want to keep him, but won't be heartbroken if he signs elsewhere -- thus, they're willing to risk losing him to save about $1.5 million against the cap.

The club slapped a non-exclusive franchise tag on Byrd last year, which paid him $6.916 million. The club would have had to pay him $8.433 million if it tagged him again.

Byrd held out all last spring and through most of training camp, upset that his agent and the Bills could not agree on a long-term deal.

As Monday's tagging deadline neared, it became apparent the two sides still weren't seeing eye-to-eye, so it was believed the club would just tag him again.

Earning $15.349 million over two years -- guaranteed -- would have been a pretty good deal even for an elite safety, which Byrd certainly is. But he rightfully is aching for a long-term deal, and deserves one.

"We have negotiated with representation for Jairus Byrd for more than a year, but have yet to reach an agreement on a contract extension," Bills GM Doug Whaley said in a statement.

"We remain open to getting a deal done with Jairus, but we have chosen not to use the franchise tag on any of our impending unrestricted free agents."

The Bills should have just tagged him again. He's their property until next Tuesday, when the free-agent market opens. Perhaps they believed he'd merely hold out again and they didn't want the distraction. Or maybe the market isn't there for them to tag-him-and-deal-him.

But unless Whaley and Byrd's agent, Eugene Parker, agree to terms by next Tuesday, Byrd hits the open market -- and the Bills get nothing by way of compensation.

Well, other than a nice compensatory pick in the 2015 draft. Probably a third-rounder.

Byrd has been a Pro Bowl safety in three of his five years in the league, with 22 interceptions. He's as good a deep safety as ever becomes available in free agency, and he's only 27.

Whaley later told Buffalo-area reporters, "As they say in that movie, there's always a chance" that Byrd re-signs with Buffalo.

In his first season in San Francisco after being traded from Baltimore last March, Boldin led the team with 85 catches for 1,179 yards and seven TDs.

Asked on a Monday night conference call why he didn't wait to test the free-agency waters, the 11-year veteran said:

"You don't just think about yourself. For me, I have family that I have to think about, and for me I have to put them in a situation where they're comfortable as well."

Read: they wanted to stay in the Bay Area.

SHOW KAP THE MONEY: The Niners and QB Colin Kaepernick can work out a long-term extension before the coming final year on his rookie contract. He's set to earn just under $1 million in 2014. Rapoport is reporting that Kap wants upwards of $18 million per year. Eesh. Don't expect a deal any time soon.

EXTRA POINTS: Not that anybody was surprised, but Peyton Manning underwent the medical on Monday mandated in his contract, to ensure all is fine with the surgically repaired disc in his neck. It is ... CB Brent Grimes agreed too a reported four-year, $32-million deal to remain with the Dolphins.

Four got slapped with a franchise tag, including Orakpo, and two with the seldom-used transition tag.

Here's the difference, simply and quickly.

First, the franchise tags. All four were all of the non-exclusive variety, meaning starting March 11 Orakpo, New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy and New York Jets placekicker Nick Folk are free to negotiate a long-term deal with any other team.

They won't get a sniff, however, because the compensation owed by the signing team to a tagged player's previous club is two first-round draft picks. Not even Graham is worth that.

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Sports writers punched these words — or similar ones — into press-box typewriters in the 70s. They clumsily finger-padded them onto Tandys in the 80s and 90s. They hard-tapped them onto laptops last decade. And, on Monday night, they soft-tapped them onto their PCs, iPads and cracker-thin MacBooks: